2017-2021

ESRC GCRF Research Capacity Growth Call Major Grant - £7,231,221

Drugs and (dis)order is a major four-year Global Challenges Research Fund project working to find policy solutions to transform drug economies into peacetime economies in the aftermath of war. We’re working in Afghanistan, Colombia and Myanmar.

By 2030, more than 50% of the world’s poor will live in fragile and conflict-affected states. And many of today’s armed conflicts are fuelled by illicit drug economies in borderland regions.

Trillions of dollars have been spent on the War on drugs, but securitised approaches have failed. In fact, they often increase state fragility and adversely affect the health and livelihoods of communities and households.

In light of these failures, there’s increasing recognition that drug policies need to be more pro-poor and aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But the evidence base for this policy reform is patchy, politicised and contested.

Project team

Professor Mandy Sadan
(GSD, Warwick, Co-investigator working alongside Myanmar Country Working Group lead Dr Patrick Meehan and local partners led by Danseng Lawn and Sai All)

Professor Jonathan Goodhand
(SOAS, Principal Investigator)

Partners include the Kachinland Research Centre and Shan Herald Agency for News in Myanmar, the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the Research Centre on Drugs and Security, Universidad de los Andes) and Afghanistan (Organization for Sustainable Development and Research and the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit).